Mumbai: Aspiring actor dupes over 80 of Rs 2 crore with film, TV offers, held

MUMBAI: The cyber police at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) has arrested a 47-year-old aspiring actor for allegedly impersonating as a casting director and duping over 80 people of around Rs 2 crore by promising to give a break to their minor children in the entertainment industry since 2017.
The accused, Apurva Ashwin Dowda, who has an MBA degree from a US university and is registered with CINTAA and Writer’s Association, was a repeat offender. He ran fake websites with promotions on casting for films, television and ads, said the police. Dowda has featured in a few ads.
Cyber police apprehended Dowda when he arrived at Khallapur Toll on the Mumbai-Pune Expessway on June 10. He was living in a 3,500 sq ft rental flat in Pune, said the police. Dowda allegedly told cops that he duped people to release his movie ‘Trance’ for which he has already spent Rs 25 lakh on launch advertisements.
He was arrested based on a complaint of Borivli resident Mahesh Gupta (47), who runs an aircraft spare parts business. Gupta said he saw a casting offer for children for a film ‘Bacho Ki Duniya’ on social media and decided to sign up his daughter. Gupta said, “I transferred around Rs 33 lakh through different bank accounts.” However, he got suspicious when Dowaa kept demanding more money and so lodged a complaint. Joint commissioner of police (crime) Milind Bharambe supervised said DCP (cyber) Rashmi Karandikar who led the team—inspectors Mangesh Majgar, Pramod Khoppikar and cyber detection staff—who chased Dowda across the country before nabbing him on Mumbai-Pune Expressway, with the help of state traffic police.
“Though Dowda is highly qualified, he took up crime to earn fast money,” said Karandikar. “Our team had been searching for him for the last six months. He would live on rent in luxury flats for hardly a month or two so that no one will track him. We recovered nine mobiles with 40 SIMS (some international SIMs), nine bank accounts, multiple passports, and an international driving licence.” The police have recovered most of Gupta’s money.
The police said Dowda was arrested a few years ago for a similar offence and spent time in Arthur Road jail in 2010. He has previous similar cases against him at police stations in Sakinaka, Oshiwara, Amboli, NM Joshi Marg and Dadar. He also has an office ‘Zenia Star’ in Dubai and uses the same modus operandi there, said the police.